


Good Cheer Inc.

by rlnerdgirl, Swing Set in December (swing_set13)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-20
Updated: 2014-04-20
Packaged: 2018-01-20 04:13:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1496221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rlnerdgirl/pseuds/rlnerdgirl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/swing_set13/pseuds/Swing%20Set%20in%20December
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles starts sending anonymous letters to his grumpy neighbour, Derek Hale, to brighten his day. So what if he had to make up a fake letter writing company to just send Derek some good cheer. That's just a creative writing license.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Cheer Inc.

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [«Улыбка Inc.», Дерек!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6213583) by [Rassda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rassda/pseuds/Rassda)



> If you've been following either [swingsetindecember](http://swingsetindecember.tumblr.com/) or [rlnerdgirl](http://rlnerdgirl.tumblr.com/) then you know about our Good Cheer round robin. So here's what we've been writing together. It's been a blast since Laura is the sweetest co-author.

_Welcome to Good Cheer Inc., Derek!_

_You’ve received this letter because someone wants to add some cheer to your day. Good Cheer Inc. is intended to give you methods to boost your confidence and self esteem through a series of letters._

_Thanks to a special someone, you have will be receiving weekly Good Cheer for six months!_

_Together with this letter you have received your first Good Cheer package. Today’s Good Cheer is the recipe and ingredients for Grandma Cheer’s Chocolate Chip Cookies. Set your oven to 350 degrees, and let’s get started baking some Good Cheer!_

+++

Stiles worries that maybe he’s overstepped his neighbourly line but Derek in 4B always looks like a raincloud is perpetually raining down on him no matter the New York City weather. Coming from a small town, Stiles is used to neighbours coming over with dinner invitations and leftovers, but he knows maybe Beacon Hills hospitality won’t mesh well in NYC so he bought some fancy card stock from Bloomingdale’s and tooled around on his computer to make a professional letterhead and typed up his Grandma Stilinski’s double chocolate gooey chip cookie recipe and sent it off through the mail to Derek’s walk-up. 

It’s not until four days later when he smells the telltale scent of his grandmother’s cookies baking when he’s walking up to his apartment that he knows his plan is working.

+++

_Happy Saturday Derek!_

_We hope those cookies were delicious. We’re sure everybody in your apartment complex was jealous as they walked through the halls and smelled them. Are you ready for your second week of Good Cheer, because we are!_

_Did you know that nine out of ten people who live in New York haven’t done seen basic famous elements of the city? A great element of building cheer is going out, exploring, and having fun! Today’s Good Cheer gift contains a reusable tote bag and a small grocery list to put together a picnic, because you’re going on a date. With yourself!_

_Now, go grab your wallet. Don’t worry, you don’t need directions. The second envelop contains directions to your picnic locale!_

+++

It ends up being somewhere in Central Park, a perfect little getaway. Only a few people sprawled out reading and silently doing yoga. Derek settles on a small grassy knoll near the tree line. He can’t believe he’s outside, there’s a pile of work teeming on his desk back in his apartment and more than fifty unanswered work e-mails - but it is Saturday. His parents and sisters keep calling to remind him of that whenever he postpones visiting for another week giving excuses of work deadlines. 

But he’s out here eating samosas and butternut squash salad in the crisp sunny afternoon. The muscles in his back feel like they’re slowly unwinding in the warm sunshine. 

_Good Cheer Inc._ had the right idea. 

+++

_We hope you had a fantastic date with yourself last week! This week, we’re going to go back to the kitchen, because the weather forecast says showers and Good Cheer definitely doesn’t mean getting sick (though, you will need to go to the grocery store again)._

_Today we’re upgrading from Grandma Cheer’s Chocolate Chip Cookies to pie. Who doesn’t like pie? Nobody! Though, we do realize people like different kinds of pie, so here are two recipes: Mama Cheer’s Apple Pie and Papa Cheer’s Messy Pumpkin Pie._

_Looking to get a little extra boost of cheer today? Make both pies and give one to a neighbour! Nothing says Good Cheer like surprising someone with delicious food._

+++

Derek is actually looking forward to checking his mail. The bright envelope of _Good Cheer Inc._ heralds him to forget his horrible day at work with bad coffee and pushy co-workers. He actually whistles while jogging up the stairs, ignoring the crotchety elevator as he rips open the envelope. He needs to grab the tote bag if he’s going to make it to the bodega around the corner before it closes. 

+++

Stiles is waiting for his coffee to finish brewing when there is a sharp rap-tap on his apartment’s door. It’s not even nine o’clock so Stiles doesn’t think it’s Mrs. Bergeron from 3D asking him if he can watch her dog, she usually only asks if her baby daughter has had a bad night. So he’s not expecting Derek of 4B to be on the other side of his door on the first Saturday he’s had off in two weeks. 

He thinks he reigns in his panic enough to open the door and greet Derek. The jig is up apparently. _Good Cheer Inc._ was a good idea while it lasted. Stiles opens the door fully prepared to face the music and cop to the whole thing but what he gets is an armful of pie. His dad’s Messy Pumpkin Pie to be exact. 

"Wha-" Stiles gapes at the Pyrex now in his open hands. 

"I made this," Derek of 4B states gruffly. "I can’t eat it all."

Stiles’ heart rate goes through a roller coaster of ups and downs before it gets to a steady state. Derek of 4B is giving him pie. He can’t help to be charmed by Derek’s fidgeting. 

"Thanks, dude," Stiles says with a warm smile. Derek’s eyes shoot up from staring at the pie to meet Stiles’ own eyes and Stiles can’t help but melt at the warmth behind them. Before he can stop himself his mouth opens. "Would you like some coffee?"

The flush of happiness that spreads onto Derek’s face is one that Stiles wouldn’t mind seeing every day.

+++

_Happy weekend, Derek! I hope you had a delightful time baking pies last weekend and truly hope you found some cheer in sharing one of them with a neighbour. Perhaps you even met someone new! I hope they were nice—though who couldn’t be, getting free homemade pie from a neighbour full of Good Cheer?_

_This weekend it’s time to get out of the house again. I’m sending you to Long Island City Community Boathouse for an hour-long paddle from Anable Basin to Hallet's Cove. Take this as an opportunity to have a date with yourself, or take advantage of the two spots we reserved and treat a friend to a cheerful outdoor activity perfect for a beautiful weekend._

_Bonus Cheer:_

_Take a picture! While you’re out on the river, take a photo of yourself, or just the city. A great way to sustain Good Cheer is having reminders of all the things that have brought a smile to your face in the past. (Don’t drop your camera, we’re not covering the cost of wet or sunken items, just Good Cheer.)_

+++

Derek has one more sliver of apple pie left. He’s been saving it for Friday night when he catches up with his DVR. He ran an extra mile at the gym and digs out the ice cream in back of the frozen peas from when Cora visited and insisted that he needed something in his pantry that wasn’t yogurt, granola or kale. He’s having his apple pie à la mode and staring at the latest _Good Cheer Inc._ letter on his coffee table. 

He spent all week trying to think of someone who would want to spend a in Long Island with him. He knows Erica and Boyd are painting their soon to-be nursery and he’s already made excuses over not being able to help with painting the crown moulding. Isaac has his brother Camden visiting from Annapolis for the weekend. So Derek is left at odds to invite. He knows Jennifer will get the wrong idea if he calls her. It’s been months since they broke up. He has a sinking feeling about who to call. He eyes his phone for a minute as he worries his spoon in his mouth with the last of the pie crust when he thinks of a charming whiskey eyed man living across the hall from him.

Stiles was warm company last weekend. Derek didn’t know what prompted him to stay for coffee and a lively debate over Star Wars trilogies but it was one of the best Saturdays he’s ever had in a long while. He mulls it over while cleaning up his kitchen and before he knows it he’s knocking on Stiles’ door with a spoon still in his hand. 

It’s too late to get rid of it when the apartment door opens. 

As the door opens, Stiles is greeting, “Hey Mrs. Berge-” but cuts off when his eyes run into Derek’s chest and then snap up to his face. “You’re not Mrs. Bergeron,” is a followed by a yip of confirmation from the small white ball of fluff tucked against his ribcage like a wriggling furry football.

"I’m not," is the first thing out of Derek’s mouth, leading to a wince and sharp mental kick in the face.

In front of him, Stiles nods sagely, as though there had been a possibility of being wrong and Derek could have been Mrs. Bergeron on disguise. Despite having only shared a coffee together, Derek can perfectly visualize the hypothesis coming out of Stiles’ mouth. “So,” Stiles prompts, shifting weight and adjusting his grasp on the small dog that’s fidgeting in an attempt to gain better access to lick every inch of his arm. His eyes light up, “More pie?”

"Uh," Derek starts, finding Stiles’ sudden enthusiasm startling. Nobody’s looked so excited to see him before. Well, except for Laura and Cora, but they’re only that excited when they’ve decided he’s taking them out for a sibling bonding day — for which he’s paying. He shoves his hands into his pockets, an old nervous habit. "I was wondering if you were free to go kayaking tomorrow," he says, and then, realizing that sounds way too much like he’s asking Stiles out on a date, which he’s not, this is, like, a friendly outing, hurries to add, "I have an extra ticket, is all."

Stiles’ small small dissipates into loose, slack-jawed neutrality that makes Derek instantly nervous, and palms start to sweat. Before he can retract the invitation, or assure Stiles that it’s just a matter of the extra ticket and no big deal if he can’t go, Stile’s lips curve and then split into a full, beaming grin. “That sounds awesome.”

+++

Stiles is thrumming with excitement. He’s got his board shorts on and the gaudiest neon green sunglasses on top of his head and a old faded Beacon Hills gym t-shirt. Derek’s supposed to knock on his door any minute. Never in his wildest dreams would he expect Derek to invite him kayaking. Derek probably has a slew of candidates but somehow against all odds, he asked Stiles. And Stiles isn’t going to ruin it by reading too much into it. Derek’s just asked him as a friend. Stiles is in no place to be turning down friends. Even if his heart picks up at the thought that this could be a date. Well, in Stiles’ wildest dreams, maybe. 

When he hears the familiar sharp rap-tap on his apartment’s door, Stiles grabs his knapsack he’s packed with SPF 60 and hopefully some brownies that Derek will enjoy. 

He opens the door to Derek who’s got a Nikon camera strung around his neck, a grey v-neck t-shirt, blue long socks up to his knees and board shorts with dancing wolves of all things. It takes a lot not to swoon at the adorableness that is Derek Hale. 

"So Long Island?" Derek asks with a raise of his eyebrows. 

"Hell yeah," Stiles answered without missing a beat. 

Whatever happens, Stiles is going to make sure Derek has a great weekend. 

+++

The highlight of Derek’s day is probably when he tells Stiles to watch out for the small flock of birds that are headed their way and Stiles, after twisting around to watch the potentially poopy incoming while trying to find his hat and put it on his head, ends up in the river. Derek can’t even help him get back in his kayak, their guide does, because first he’s laughing to hard, and second, he’s trying to get the perfect picture of drenched, rolling-eyes, fake-frowning Stiles as he’s half dragged up into his kayak.

What Derek ends up getting is a picture of drenched, rolling-eyes, fake-frowning, shirt-pulled-up-to-his-neck-with-full-exposed-back Stiles being half dragged up into his kayak, and Derek’s hands go numb around the camera, which falls, the strap digging roughly into the back of his neck at the sudden weight. That - was unexpected. Also distracting. He has trouble concentrating for the last half hour of their trip because whenever Stiles points something out, or tries to start conversation, and Derek looks over at him, all he sees is that stretch of wet skin, the already exposed toned arms, and his mind starts spinning off in different directions, some of which are thoroughly inappropriate.

+++

Stiles is used to being a walking embarrassment. He once spilled ice cream on his physics professor's desk during office hours in college. And it's not the first time he's fallen into a body of water. He's from California so he's no stranger to the ocean. So he's able to brush off the minor mishap of taking an unscheduled bath in the river. At least Derek is nice enough not to laugh that much. 

His shirt is still a bit damp when they get back to their apartment complex. Stiles shuffles his feet a bit at the door before turning towards Derek.

"Want to get some take-out? My treat," Stiles offers since Derek had packed an extensive cooler for lunch. Though Derek must have a sweet tooth because his eyes lit up when Stiles dug out his tupperware container of homemade brownies. 

Derek looks pink in the face when he agrees almost instantly. Stiles hopes Derek didn't get a sunburn.


End file.
